Monday, October 09, 2006

This season's snowqualmie trip also happened. We went today, it was not a ideal sunny day, but a dry day, which is pretty good for October. We went down to the falls, sat on a rock near water, enjoying the mist coming in from the fall. Surprisingly it was not as cold as I though, I could sit on a stone, right in front of the falls, enjoying the water coming on my face without having to wrap up in layers of sweater and without my hands getting super cold. It was a nice, unremarkable, satisfactory trip like most of the others to the fall. I should have pictures up soon.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Tonight's full moon has a special name--the "Harvest Moon." It's the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Long ago, before electric lights, farmers relied on the Harvest Moon to light up their fields at night, allowing them to harvest autumn crops even after sunset.

When the Harvest Moon rises tonight, go outside and look around. You might see some strange things.

This particular Harvest Moon is unusually big--almost 12% wider than some full Moons we've seen earlier this year. Why? Because the Moon is near perigee, the side of the Moon's lopsided orbit that comes closest to Earth.

The weather prediction here is clear skies (for a change), so I might be able to look at it thru the telescope. What would be cool would be to see the snoqualmie falls in this moonlight, it would be all glittery and shiny!